Jason Kidd scored 13 of his season-high 21 points during a game-altering third quarter and dished out 10 assists for Dallas, which hadn’t won since January 4 against Portland.
“Guys got after it on both ends of the floor and played hard and it just happened to be against the world champions,” Terry said.
Pau Gasol had 23 points and Kobe Bryant added 21 points with 10 assists for the Lakers, who have dropped two of three after posting seven straight wins.
Los Angeles led 31-23 after the opening 12 minutes and extended its advantage to 10 in the second quarter before Dallas pulled to within 56-52 at halftime.
Gasol made a turnaround hook shot to give the Lakers a 62-54 lead early in the third quarter. The Mavericks battled back and went up 70-69 on Kidd’s bid from beyond the arc. Sasha Pavlovic knocked down a trey to push Dallas’ lead to 82-71 late in the frame.
“We were very disappointed with the way we played,” said Los Angeles head coach Phil Jackson. “We thought we should have been up by 16 points in the first half. We let them stay in the ballgame and then they had that third quarter that was really a great finish to it. And they got us on our heels.”
Terry hit a three-pointer to widen the gap to 97-81 midway through the fourth quarter. Los Angeles trimmed its deficit to 99-91 on a Lamar Odom three-point play with 4:21 remaining, but Dallas responded with seven straight points to effectively seal the win.
Game Notes
Dirk Nowitzki totaled 14 points and eight rebounds for Dallas, which made a season-high 55 percent of its shots…Odom finished with 20 points and 10 boards…Gasol surpassed 13,000 points for his career…The Mavericks are 18-1 when scoring at least 100 points in a game…Dallas hasn’t lost seven straight since February 9-19, 1999…Tyson Chandler returned to the Dallas lineup after missing the last two games due to an illness. He contributed six points and 10 rebounds.